Biology: Exploring Life and the Chemical Basis of Life

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory concepts of biology, the scientific process, and the chemical basis of life, including atomic structure, bonding, and the properties of water.

Biology

The scientific study of life.

Properties of Life

A set of characteristics including order, reproduction, growth and development, energy processing, regulation, response to the environment, and evolutionary adaptation.

Cell

The structural and functional unit of life.

Taxonomists

Biologists who name species and classify them into broader groups.

Domains

The three higher levels of life organization: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.

Domain Eukarya

The domain that includes various protists and the kingdoms Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.

Binomial Nomenclature

A two-way naming system for organisms using the genus and species, where the genus is capitalized and the entire name is italicized or underlined.

Emergent Properties

New properties that result from the specific arrangement and interactions among component parts at each level of life's hierarchy.

example: digestive system breaks down food into monomers which is transported by blood to all cells for energy and growth.

Hierarchy of biological organization

The series of structural levels from the biosphere down to ecosystems, communities, populations, organisms, organs/organ systems, tissues, cells, organelles, and molecules.

Science

A way of knowing and an approach to understanding the natural world using an evidence-based process of inquiry.

Hypothesis

A proposed explanation for a set of observations that must be testable.

Scientific Theory

A broad-scope explanation supported by a large body of evidence.

Independent Variable

The factor in an experiment that is manipulated by the researchers.

Dependent Variable

The measure used to judge the outcome of an experiment; it depends on the manipulated variable.

Controlled Experiment

An experimental design that compares an experimental group with a control group.

Evolution

The process of change that has transformed life on Earth from its earliest forms to the vast array of organisms living today.

Natural Selection

The mechanism for evolution where individuals with certain inherited traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Artificial Selection

The process by which humans act as agents of evolution through the selective breeding of plants and animals.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)

The heritable material responsible for heredity and for programming the activities of a cell by providing the blueprint for proteins.

Systems Biology

An approach where scientists attempt to model the behavior of biological systems by analyzing the interactions among their parts.

Matter

Anything that occupies space and has mass; in living organisms, it is composed of chemical elements.

Element

A substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by ordinary chemical means.

Compound

A substance consisting of two or more different elements in a fixed ratio.

Four Essential Elements

Oxygen ($O$), Carbon ($C$), Hydrogen ($H$), and Nitrogen ($N$), which make up approximately $96\%$ of the weight of most living organisms.

Trace Elements

Elements required by an organism in only minute quantities, such as iron ($Fe$) or fluoride ($F$).

Atom

The smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element.

Proton

A subatomic particle with a single positive electrical charge, found in the nucleus of an atom.

Neutron

A subatomic particle that is electrically neutral, found in the nucleus of an atom.

Electron

A subatomic particle with a single negative charge that orbits the nucleus.

Atomic Number

The unique number of protons in an atom of a specific element.

Mass Number

The sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus.

Isotopes

Atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

Radioactive Isotope

An isotope in which the nucleus decays spontaneously, giving off particles and energy.

Chemical Bonds

Attractions between atoms resulting from sharing, gaining, or losing electrons in the outer shell.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond resulting from the actual transfer of an electron between atoms, creating an attraction between ions of opposite charge.

Covalent Bond

when bond electrons are shared equally or unequally among different atoms

Nonpolar Covalent Bond

A covalent bond in which electrons are shared equally between atoms.

Polar Covalent Bond

A covalent bond where electrons are pulled closer to the more electronegative atom, resulting in an unequal distribution of charges.

Hydrogen Bond

A weak bond formed when the slightly positive hydrogen atom of a polar covalent bond in one molecule is attracted to the slightly negative atom of a polar covalent bond in another molecule.

Chemical Reaction

A process leading to chemical changes in matter, involving the making and breaking of chemical bonds to convert reactants to products.

Cohesion

The tendency of molecules of the same kind to stick together.

Adhesion

The clinging of one substance to another substance.

Surface Tension

A measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid.

Thermal Energy

Energy associated with the random movement of atoms and molecules.

Heat

Thermal energy in transfer from a warmer to a cooler body of matter.

Temperature

A measure of the intensity of heat, representing the average thermal energy of the molecules in a body of matter.

Evaporative Cooling

The process in which the surface of an object becomes cooler during evaporation, a result of the molecules with the greatest energy leaving as gas.

Solution

A liquid consisting of a uniform mixture of two or more substances.

Solvent

The dissolving agent of a solution.

Solute

A substance that is dissolved in a solution.

Aqueous Solution

A solution in which water is the solvent.

pH Scale

A scale ranging from $0$ to $14$ used to describe how acidic or basic a solution is.

Buffer

A substance that minimizes changes in $pH$ by accepting $H^{+}$ when it is in excess and donating $H^{+}$ when it is depleted.

remember dna- protein sequence

DNA ,RNA , PROTEIN

unity

all organisms have arisen from an common ancestor

diversity

species adapt to their surroundings and change over time

highly electronegative atoms include?

F, O N

Floride, Oxygen, Nitrogen

covalent bond

when bond electrons shared equal or unequal among different atoms

pH lies between 7.01 to 14

base

example of trace element

Fe/ Iron